Canadian teen Mboko reaches final round of French Open qualifying

Canada's Victoria Mboko tosses the ball to serve United States' Coco Gauff during the Italian Open tennis tournament on Friday, May 9, 2025, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

PARIS — Victoria Mboko advanced to the third round of French Open qualifying with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kathinka von Deichmann on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Canadian won 82 per cent of her first serves and converted six of seven break-point chances.

Mboko overcame six double faults and fired the match’s only ace, while von Deichmann committed nine double faults.

She improved her season record to 39-5, with most of her wins coming on the lower-tier ITF World Tennis Tour circuit.

The Toronto native is bidding to reach her first Grand Slam main draw and will face Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan on Friday in the final round of qualifying.

Mboko is looking to join four fellow Canadians -- Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo, both of Montreal, and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont. -- in the main singles draw at Roland-Garros.

Fernandez, ranked No. 27 on the WTA Tour, will open against No. 34 Olga Danilovic of Serbia.

Shapovalov enters as the top-ranked Canadian on the ATP Tour at No. 27 and will face Spain’s Pedro Martinez in the first round.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked No. 30, meets Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, while No. 53 Diallo opens against No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

All three Canadian men are in the same quarter of the draw, which also features No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 6 Novak Djokovic, No. 11 Daniil Medvedev and No. 16 Grigor Dimitrov.

Fernandez and Diallo will also compete in doubles.

Canada’s top-ranked women’s doubles player, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski, is also slated to play along with doubles partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand. But the reigning WTA Finals doubles champions withdrew from their semifinal at the warm-up Strasbourg Open on Thursday, with the WTA saying Dabrowski is dealing with a chest injury.

Rob Shaw of North Bay, Ont., received a wild card into the wheelchair quad singles and doubles draws at Roland-Garros.